DU Pioneers, Matt Davis stun Boston College to return to Frozen Four for third time in four years

Matt Davis lived in Boston College’s nightmares all offseason. And there he will stay — perhaps for eternity.

The University of Denver’s mustachioed maestro frustrated and flummoxed the No. 1 overall seed for the second year in a row, stopping 35 shots to lead the Pioneers back to the Frozen Four with a 3-1 victory inside SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.M.

Defensemen Eric Pohlkamp and James Reeder scored goals in a five-minute stretch between the first and second periods and Zeev Buium added an empty-netter as the defending national champion Pioneers claimed their sixth straight NCAA Tournament win.

Next up is a rematch with NCHC rival Western Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals on April 10 in St. Louis.

The Broncos rallied from three goals down to beat the Pios in overtime in the Frozen Faceoff championship game a week ago, then beat Minnesota State and UMass back-to-back to claim their first Frozen Four bid in program history.

This will be DU’s 20th trip to national semifinals and sixth in the last 10 years. Just like last year, this one comes after a pair of gritty wins in the Northeast Regional that saw Davis surrender just two goals total.

Boston College (27-8-2) came out determined to rough up DU (31-11-1), delivering multiple big hits in the opening minutes of the first period.

At one point, the Eagles even bowled over Davis and the goal behind him while attempting to muscle in a tally midway through the period. But the Pios turned that aggression against the Eagles, generating rush after rush that put pressure on two-time Mike Richter Award finalist Jacob Fowler on his heels in net.

DU finally broke through on a rush sparked by Aidan Thompson’s speed on the edge. The Fort Collins native sped into the BC zone and dropped the puck off to Jack Devine, who then fed a trailing Pohlkamp at the top of the circles for a laser beam that beat Fowler top shelf.

The sophomore defenseman’s 11th goal of the season gave the Pios a 1-0 lead with 1:41 left in the first period — then he nearly added another less than two minutes into the second period with a shot that clanked off the post.

No matter, Reeder scored his 11th of the season a few minutes later with a shot from the blue line that wafted through a collection of bodies and beat Fowler five-hole for a 2-0 lead with 17:01 left in the frame.

Zeev Buium appeared to give DU a 3-0 lead with 11:46 left in the second period, but it was disallowed after a coach’s challenge showed the Pioneers entered the zone offside.

Then, after 99 minutes of shutout hockey against the Eagles, Davis finally let one through — a breakaway goal that Teddy Stiga squeezed between Davis’ pads to tighten the score a 2-1 with 53 seconds left in the second period.

The Eagles scrambled for the equalizer the rest of the game, outshooting the Pios 14-2 in the final period. But just like last year’s 2-0 Frozen Four championship game loss to DU, Davis had all the answers.

The senior netminder now has 70 saves and one goal allowed in two NCAA Tournament games against B.C.

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